Archive for February 10th, 2010

Poor Otter Creek and the 4 state land board members who wholeheartedly supported the plan to add a bonus bid on top of the minimal bid for the Otter Creek Coal tracts. Responsibility to the trust and all that good stuff. Now they’re left without a bid, but their vehement support of the bonus bid can’t be erased.

What to do..what to do.

If the bonus bid made the approval responsible, doesn’t it mean that lowering it becomes irresponsible?

Coal is at an all-time low, both production and price. It’s filthy. And the feds are now looking at co2 emissions from coal-fired plants after decades of ignoring the gas.

I mean – why sell the stuff when production is at its lowest and prices are in the dump?

Wyoming’s legislature just started its 20-day legislative session, and one of the first tasks at hand was to “send a message to Washington” that health care reform was not welcome. Titled the Health Freedom of Choice resolution, the senate proposal was intended to tell the federal government that “the federal government shall not interfere with an individual’s health care decisions.”

Quite the message. Let’s see if Washington, Republicans, Blue Dogs, the media and the rest of America takes note.

Wherein Big Swede’s head begins to spin….

~~~~~~Update: The Wyoming senate actually killed two anti-health reform bills. The other was a bill that would have required the AG to investigate the constitutionality of any health reform bill passed in congress.

While most crime declined, DUI arrests were up 22% – from 491 in 2008 to 600 in 2009.

I point this out only as another bit of anecdotal evidence that Montana has a drinking problem.

I don’t know if Missoula City Police do this…or if our county Sheriff’s Department does it either…but I’m sure plenty of us would all find the numbers interesting. There’s always been a tendency to downplay violent crimes here, too. I’d say this might be a good way of assessing, overall, how the community is addressing any number of problems.

The solution isn’t purely tougher laws – Montana’s well beyond that when it’s regular media fare to have 4th and 5th DUI arrests and domestic violence crimes in the news. We need to start with solutions geared towards our children and our culture.

Bottom up solutions are often less costly in the long run than dealing with the issue on the tail end. Beyond the monetary concerns, think of the lives impacted by what publicly begins with an arrest. The tragedies are far reaching.